Bereavement
by VoiceofInsanity
Summary: The village hidden in the leaves has experienced a great loss, warmth and happiness was stolen from them. Peace is always hard won.
1. Prologue

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story was created previously and since then been revamped, it's a short beginning but I like it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters, or setting. The prose is mine, and some slightly bent plots are mine. Nothing more, nothing less.

_**BEREAVEMENT**_

The night was cold, desolate and wounded. On this night a man of twenty was staring at a slab on the ground. On this night the sky opened up, revealed the darkness within by spattering the ground with hard drops of moisture. The man came to rest in front of this particular spot on this particular night every year. It had become a part of his life, a part of his reality, to come and speak to the grave ritualistically as if the very fabric of his personality depended on renewing the conversation.

"Hi, it's not as sunny as it was last time, eh? I would have wanted light for the work I did today for the house but Hinata was just as happy to see it done at all, you know it took me ages to finally put up the wall that Saki punched through. She has quite a temper, it's usually only reserved for her brother, Hatsu. They are growing up, let me tell you…"

Babbling like this was what kept him from crying, which was his want to do the first few times he came here. Other friends would sometimes come, his wife would drop by if it got to late, but like always it was Naruto Uzumaki who would always stay with her; forever loyal.

"Sasuke has been seen again, though I assume you already know that" A laugh, a choke.

"Temari is marrying Shikamaru this fall, they're good for one another, trust me. Tenten is moving in with Lee, they still swear nothings happening but you know, as I told you last time, Lee looks at her like she makes his world and tidies it up for him. You know the look, I'm sure. It's gooey, you always hated the gooey look. You'll be glad and disheartened to know that Neji and Kiba haven't formed attachments to any girl, no love, but no love loss. The rest have remained the same; domestic and cutsie."

Naruto ended up rambling about town structures and new legislation instead of continuing on the vein he had tread, knowing she would get upset if she could hear it. Comfort is always reserved for the living, he reminded himself. As he plodded through his obligation of filling her in, he began to reminisce as he does often on how it once was. How lovely the academy life had been, sharing laughs with silly 'enemies' and having ramen with joyous friends. The genuine mirth of his teammates is what he missed the most; Kakashi's wrinkle, Sasuke's smirk, Sakura's blinding grin. All gone, what remained was a mockery of reality, a shadow of convenience; only brought out to scar and hurt, never to placate. No placation for the older, he though, have to take the rose colored kunai and smash them.

"I miss you…I wish it could have been different, I wish for a lot of things, but most of all I wish you could smile again. I'm sorry, thank you."

He ended with the sentence he had practiced in the dark and repeated over again whenever he had to do something very difficult. 'I'm sorry' he repeated for good measure. Turning his back on the grave had never been the easiest thing for him, always been the most practiced of his moves. On this night, this special night, it was the first time he didn't look back, the first time he didn't cry out any words of despair, and the first time he felt better after wards. On this night so many things went unchanged, unfettered, but few, very few, important things moved in the wind and rain of the memorial stone that read solemnly;

_HARUNO SAKURA_


	2. Remembrance

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reviewing: -SmilingArtist-, Metal Drops, and Inner Jashinist! It meant a lot and was largely the motivation for this chapter coming out at all. ^.^

Disclaimer: I don't own them...I swear, though it totally looks that way, what with me writing on a _FANFICTION_ site and all.

_**Remembrance**_

The presiding Hokage of the village hidden between the leaves of Fire Country, walked woodenly back to his home. The streets were empty and quiet but for the squish of his boots and pat-pat-pat of the rain, serene and somber. Smiling, he though of her love of rain and her avid argument of it's importance.

"_I hate the rain, it's stupid, ya know?" _

"_Naruuuto! Rain is the bonding for the economy of the village, if not for the rain our crops would wither, the hydro energy produced would be non-existent, and the water supply would run out in a matter of days. Sun only nurtures what the rain builds. There would be nothing without the luxury the rain affords us." _

_She was rosy with passion and breathing hard from her small rant, ending with a declaration and a flourish of gesticulations pointing towards the blond assailant of rain._

"_You just like the way it smells, Sakura." Came the swift and exacting comment from Kakashi that made her flush and nod. _

"_That too."_

There were no more blushes, nor perceptive comments from them. Sometimes you just have to remember the times that make you smile instead of the ones that make your heart ache indiscriminately. That is exactly what Naruto did, smiling through and through with the amiable laughs of his teammates ringing in his memory.

As he passed the houses of small wealth he noted the faces missing from within them; Ino and Choji place devoid of Chojis' buoyant laughter and Inos' shrill orders for her darling kids of two and four, now filled with silence of a nanny and sleeping children. His neighbors Lee and Tenten's house unoccupied by their joint compassion for each other. Kiba, Neji, and Shino's bachelor pad deserted and quiet. Already, two houses away, he could smell the feast his lovely wife had made for this anniversary of misery. Earlier today he had dropped off his children to be watched with Ino's children. War and the misery it leaves behind is not a thing to share with kids. It's an awful thing to destroy that which is innocent, for his part, Naruto was planning on having his children be children until it was strictly necessary to grow up. Which is a thing he fervently wished to be far in the future, very, very far. '_I have seen what the alternative is, I have seen what comes from shattering innocence. Too many have."_

Naruto hesitated at the door of his home, knowing what was behind it, hearing the amiable conversation of the rookie nin. He hated ruining the moment by showing his face of misery on this day every year. He hated disappointing them, they wanted him to move on and stop thinking of her as a martyr, as a figurehead of grief. Didn't they understand that you can't erase those who are never gone? No, no they didn't. He wiped his eyes of unshed tears before taking a bracing breath, putting on a smile, opening the door he was met by seven downcast familiar faces and one not so familiar face.

"Hinata, I'm home!" He shouted as was his custom, knowing she was in the kitchen.

"Naruto!" Hinata screamed, coming out of the kitchen to hug her husband as was her custom.

Naruto grinned half-heartedly as he picked up his wife and spun her as he always did. He nodded to the rookie-nin and stared at the ninth person in the room who was shaking slightly and holding a scroll he was currently wringing over and over.

"Hokage, I have s-s-some b-bad news." The meek man said holding out the very used scroll.

Their was a collective mental groan as those words were said, everyone knew what day it was and by the stutter in the staffs voice so did he. There was never good news to be had on this day. Collectively this day was the highest in missteps, fumbles, foibles, and general mistakes in all the days of the year. It was something to be studied, for sure, the hospital always received more patients, the shops received more thieves, the Hokage's office received more paper work and bad news, and the worst of it all; Naruto had to handle it all personally.

"Alright, what is it. Speak." Naruto said, appearing to casually hang onto his wife but he was really clinging to her. Bad news is never received well, bad news on top of bad moods and bad memories was torture.

"Team 5 of the rookie n-nin went missing, as you know, last week. We tried and tried to look for them within the bounds of the country and found no sign-" he babbled nervously, having never been in the presence of his Hokage before.

"The bad news?" Naruto interrupted not unkindly.

"We found them, sir."

"How is that bad?" Naruto asked, dreading the answer.

"They were dead. We found them strung up around the trees near the village, we also found red cloth tied around there necks. The nin that found them reported that the cloth was…" Gulp, breath, shudder. "Holding their heads on…you know connecting it to the…um, body. ANBU Captain Genma already sent his team on a reconnaissance around the perimeter. Shortly after receiving his reports, we received intelligence from the surrounding village's who report the same thing. Guards tied up with red cloth on trees. We, I mean, they think it is a high possibility that the long dormant Akatsuki are looking for something again."

"Thank you for that. If that's all...?"

"Ah, yes. Sorry to disrupt your evening Hokage. It was an honor to meet you and your family…lovely home, really." The meek man twisted the abused scroll once more and left swiftly out the door, considerably relaxed at the idea of not being in the same room with the Hokage anymore. If he knew how stressful this job was going to be, he would have stayed at his father's fish shop regardless of the smell.

Kiba was the first to break the silence that had descended upon the room after the mans stuttering departure, "Well that sucks…"

"Eloquent, Kiba. That really puts the tragedy into perspective." Ino sneered.

"It is a tragedy, it's not only disheartening for those soldiers and their families but for the implication of what there deaths mean." Neji said, interrupting what would surely be a fight between the two stubborn adults. "We have a serious problem on our hands and it must be dealt with, the Akatsuki are no longer biding there time, they are taking action and we, in turn, must as well."

The wind whistled against the house as they all contemplated the options they had available and the repercussions those options would reap for all involved. If they sent out a contingent of ninja's to again search out the hideout of the Akatsuki they ran the risk of providing them with exactly what they wanted, or with more victims. Reinforcing the villages' guards would detract from the threat of infiltration but give them a push to move on, forcing a new village and country to deal with the threat. If it were indeed the truth of the matter, and they were trying to find something like they were back then why would it be around the village? Surely they had to have a motive for such manslaughter. Senseless violence was never a Akatsuki thing to do, murder for a cause, for an end goal. At this point the only thing they could do safely was sent out secular spies and fractionally increase the border security. Taking all this in was a matter of choice on this of all nights, whether or not the discussion would range into the night was chiefly on Naruto's shoulders; the man who cared about this night more than the rest, got more out of the revelry of her memory.

"I think we should dramatically increase the--"

"No, Lee." Naruto interrupted in a forceful voice, commanding the attention of the room. "Tonight is not the night for strategic planning, nor the night for worrying about the state of the village. Tonight the village is safe and all it's people are warm in bed. This gathering is not for them, it's for us, for her. This night of all nights is just for remembering, for those who have left us and for those who remain behind for them. We dishonor them if we cannot for one night put aside everything to talk and share in each others company, something they can no longer do."

"Well said, Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered in his ear before pecking him on the temple lovingly and reassuringly. "Now, I have dinner on the table. Who's hungry?"

The party of nine adult ninja's moved into the dining room and left the bad feelings and strategies behind them as the smell of Hinata's cooking intoxicated them. The gathering of the rookie nin each year had started off on a very rocky premise, some never came, others refused to join in the merriment, and others weren't allowed to come. It would always include idle chit chat of what happened in there lives over the year they had last gathered--Ino's hair cut, Shino's new sunglasses, Kiba's new dog shampoo that smelled like lavender, Neji's new love interest, Hinata's newest child, Naruto's latest trick to get out of paper work, Shikamaru's strategy for getting Temari to marry him, Lee's new method of training, Tenten's latest bomb, and all of their small achievements. After cataloging all the information, Naruto alone would go back to the stone and share all he had learned, and most importantly he would leave something with her.

This little gathering had started under the smallest of gestures and the most needed of hugs:

"_WHY?!" _

_He screamed it into the sky as if the answer would be hurled back at him, Naruto dropped to his knees in front of the grave and shouted once more. The shouting seemed to release the feelings inside of him, but not as quickly as he need them gone; tears slid down his face as he clung to the grass and pounded the earth. 'Why had she done it? What had happened that made her snap like that?' The questions burned in his throat as he tried to make sense of the senseless. His two best friends were gone, lost to each other. He couldn't save them, that fact alone kept him there; if he couldn't save them, he couldn't save anyone. Kneeling before Sakura's grave gave no solace, knowing that a turn of his head would give him a glimpse of Sasuke's grave gave his no comfort; tears, screams, and violence seemed to be the only thing he could offer them now. _

"_It's not you know," A soft voice said behind him, accompanied by a soft hand on his shoulder. _

_Not realizing he was repeating his guilt out loud, he shook himself and whispered hoarsely, "How?"_

"_You couldn't have known what was going to happen." Hinata sighed. "You did what any friend would do, Naruto, you cared! It was more than the village did for them, and it was more than I did. What was happening with them will never be known, but what you can take with you from it is that you did everything in your power as Hokage and as Uzumaki Naruto to save them."_

_A touch turned into an embrace and an embrace turned into a clinging to life, to a thing which could not be expressed. Something happens when you cling to someone in a time of tears, it happens without your knowledge and without your consent; you fall and you allow that person to pick you up. It's unconscious at first but as you clutch their shirt and murmur your guilt into there breast, they know and you know that you have given them a gift which can never be taken back. _

_They stayed there like that; Hinata rocking him, and stroking his arm comfortingly, Naruto sobbing opening, and the rookie nin watching soberly from a few graves away. The group could have, and would have if not for the 'poof' and smoke surrounding the small area in front of the grave. Shock, awe, gasps. The rookie nin stepped forward to see what the smoke had brought; a letter with two words upon it._

_HARUNO SAKURA_


	3. Rival Unity

Rival Unity

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am sorry for not updating at all for over a year, I promise that you'll have at least two chapters to sink your teeth into until I disappear forever. Kidding! Family, school, relationship, life, computer problems, dog ate it, etc. Sorry for the wait.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Sakura's pink hair, I don't own Itachi's eyes, I don't own Kisame's sword or Sai's paint brush, I don't own the shinobi world. But I do own replica's so let's see what I can do with them. MUAHAHAHA!

'It'll rain today.' Sakura mused as she stepped outside of the cabin that had been her home for nearly three years. The trees lined her view and shaded her from the views of others. The little glen of solitude had been the last stop on her flight away from the village she once hailed as home. She had built the shed on the side of the house with her bare hands and the shelter below the cabin by her own fists was created. Sakura had no needs that were not met by her safe haven. Food in the brush, water in the well, shelter, and even company.

"Mommy!"

She turned to see Moki running up in his training gear. A smile adorned her face, not a real one but a sad imitation of the true one.

Moki was her child, her son.

Not Sasuke's, never his.

"Hai, Moki what's the matter?"

"Men, about fibe kiwo's away. Only two."

Sakura's eyes flashed.

She nodded, Moki knew what the signals meant by now. He was nearly seven years old, only two months away from his seventh birthday. Sakura had run away from everything to get more powerful, the jutsu's' that everyone taught her she had perfected already. Lee-kun's taijutsu, Kurenai-sama's genjutsu, even doujutsu breaking training from Neji-san, Tsunade-same had taught her everything. She had surpassed her teachers. Sakura had spent these last three years training with scrolls, and after she exhausted all of the jutsu's of the scroll manifests, she developed a few of her own. Sakura was definitely not weak, and she passed on her strength to her son. Moki was anything but innocent, anything but weak. He was steadily growing in power and showed promise in a variety of different jutsu techniques.

She put on her cloak and walked outside expecting bandits of the local kind. Sakura spied Moki in the trees above their cabin as she had taught him to do. The trees rustled as she sensed two chakra signatures.

Both familiar.

Too familiar.

She knew who was going to come out of the forest, but nothing could prepare her for those two people. Or more specifically, that one person. An Uchiha….Itachi.

Hoshi Kisame looked up from the ground to look at a pink haired konoichi with a green cloak surrounding her and swaying in the breeze. Just a regular konoichi, except both his partner and him knew this simple konoichi. Her face and skills had been put in their bingo book long ago. Haruno Sakura gazed seemingly unperturbed at the two Akatsuki members. They had been sent to look for her, but he was unprepared for the blank look on her face. The reaction from most people that gazed at the visage of Akatsuki greatness in the full garb sauntering towards there dwelling wasn't a stare of non-committal, no, it was rather more alarmed in it's nature. This was going to be a strange meeting with the kunoichi. The famously dead konoichi.

"What do you want?" She said in a voice that suggested answering would be the best course of action.

Itachi and Kisame shared a look. Leader-sama had been looking for a few things; a new member, his socks, but most of all a healer. Sakura was a healer, the best in all of the shinobi nations as far as they knew.

"Well, konoichi we want a lot of things. Personally I'd like a woman to share warmth and a little something else with..-," Kisame started with a smirk.

"Don't waste my time, Akatsuki."

"We don't wish to fight."

"Then talk."

"The Akatsuki need a healer. You are the best and you're dead so you are the perfect candidate. You have no ties and no village." Itachi said.

Laughter exploded in the clearing. Both Akatsuki looked at the laughing woman in surprise.

"I have no ties. Your right…somewhat." Sakura said through laughter.

"Somewhat?" Itachi asked first.

"Moki..." Sakura said, as a her son jumped down beside her with a matching cloak and clung onto his mother's thigh.

"What the hell is that?" Kisame yelled, pointing dramatically.

"It seems the Akatsuki organization has become lax in their information gathering." Sakura said stoically.

"So it would seem." Itachi said, as he noted the raven colored hair of the child and the deep green eyes. "Who is this?"

"My son." Sakura replied simply. "I had no clue Akatsuki didn't keep tabs on it's members family."

"Family?"

"I married your brother, Uchiha, and had his offspring." Sakura said as if she was she were reciting a grocery list.

"WHA-," Kisame started yelling.

"I'm not explaining anything."

The silence in the air hung thickly. Moki was the one to lift the veil.

"Mommy?"

"Hmm?" She asked not breaking eye contact with the intruders.

"He looks like me. He even has my-," Said Moki, pointing at Itachi.

Sakura clamped her hand over Moki's mouth. The last thing they needed was the Uchiha murderer to know that he had the Sharingan, or anything about them.

"He's your uncle. He's also not to be trusted Moki." Sakura said in a low dangerous voice in Moki's ear.

"But, mommy! He can teach me, ne?" Moki whined.

Sakura sighed, contemplating.

'If I join the Akatsuki I'll be a traitor to Konoha and Naruto.'

'Who can give the title of 'traitor' to a dead woman?'

'Good point, but what about Sasuke?'

'Joining them will help you to kill him, Moki can get training as well. You knew this was a possibility, you even mapped out your plan for such an event, it was a good plan. You shouldn't pass this up, plus they need you. They don't know that you might need them.'

Sakura sighed and took a deep breath. She looked at the wiggling with displeasure Moki then at her former enemies.

"Stop."

Moki stood at attention and let go of his mother with that one word. Sakura walked forward and stood a foot from the Akasuki partners.

Kisame looked at Itachi with puzzlement and a question in his eyes. Itachi sighed mentally and watched the kunoichi in front of him as she sized both them up. She was clearly different from the child he saw last. The light of innocence was gone, the rail thin form of adolescence had grown into a voluptuous shape of obviously femininity, her hair was hip length with a twist to it that held it in place, and the way she stood was arming. Her mien when standing before him exuded power like a faucet left on, and threatened him more than he would care to admit. Leader-sama had chosen wisely from the candidates.

Sakura stared at the two Akasuki appraising there every attribute with quick rapid calculations. If either of them wanted to take the hard route to inclusion tot eh organization she would be ready. Kisame held most of his chakra within his palms and had little in reserve inside his core, though the sword strapped to his back emanated chakra with a fury. Itachi carried his in and around his pupils and curiously held his reserves within his head with a swirling mass just hovering over his visual cortex. Curious that such a hard won stoic man would have a chakra cure for headaches actively operating in a time like this. Packing the information away for later she asked what would be the deciding factor in her choice.

"What is the proposition?"

"What makes you think our leader has made one further than the position offering?"

"I'm not a genin, tell me what I get out of this partnership or you can get off my property."

The two quickly exchanged glances and nodded. Leader-sama did indeed lay out a proposition if she were so inclined to join and another to offer if she weren't so enchanted with the idea of joining them.

"We did not know you had ties, though I doubt they will change the propositions allure. With your acquiescence to inclusion, we will cease in our efforts to secure Naruto Uzumaki." Itachi said trying to be comforting.

A scoff. A leer. "Your organization hasn't been active for five years and all the tailed members of humanity still live. Either you're grossly inadequate or that's not your main goal anymore. Stop yanking the chains you think I want and give me the actual offer."

"Damn kunochi, I'll yank any chain you want just stop looking at us like that. It's giving me the willies." bemoaned Kisame. "You'll get your own rooms, a compensation from every mission and a living wage, you can come and go as you please and with becoming a member of the Akatsuki you can gain valuable training and increase your power. It's a win-win for anybody. And a gigantic compliment that we're extending to you by even offering."

Too nice. Too cajoling. Too normal by far. This was not a feared organization's offer, this was a normal organization hidden in plain sight's offer. Interesting.

"I accept. Though I do have two caveats, I'm bringing my son and we leave tomorrow morning." Sakura's look of bored determination didn't waver in the least as she looked on at the two missing nin before her.

Before becoming a missing nin herself, Sakura always thought the mere mention of one would be foreboding, a mark of something evil coming your way. The two in front of her didn't inspire fear, loathing, or evil in any approximation of the terms. Rather than just calculate their chakra, Sakura took a moment to really look at the men imposing into her life, or rather unlife. Kisame held himself with an air of incredulity about everything, life was a game and he was damn if he let people play it alone. One foot plopped on the corner of her garden and the other balancing on the hell of the garden's intruder, his arms hung languidly by his side as if they held no concern for impending attack, and his face looked like it had the beginnings of many laugh lines and few frown marks. He looked happy. In comparison Itachi Uchiha held himself with a cloud of hostility told no one in particular, though it wasn't directed and wasn't portrayed, she could tell it was there, just waiting, waiting for the chance to strike out and ease the burden. Burden of what was the question. His entire body radiated with control and poise. No body movement out of place, haphazard, or sporadic in it's nature; every tick, twitch, and flip of the hair controlled within an inch of it's creation. He looked laden with emotion yet devoid of comprehension for that emotion. He was in direct conflict with himself and it showed.

Breaking her out of her observations, Itachi questioned, "Why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why must we stay here for the night when you so obviously don't have that much to pack." He waved a hand at her home as if it explained everything.

Sakura prided herself on this home, it held none of the mistakes the first few did and held improvements that made it virtually incomparable. The Walls were made out of the surrounding trees literally, moving the trees into the square lines to make the house hadn't been easy but it had been worth it, the thatch of trees around the square masked the real use for the square in the middle which afforded Sakura and Moki with more security. The only entry point was in the ceiling of thick branches and leaves over a tarp with a small flap in the middle. No windows and no door visible. It wasn't a normal home but it was home. She would be sad to lose it and even sadder to destroy it.

"It's not a matter of packing, it's an act of destruction that will need us to stay the night." Sakura explained with a wistfulness for her home. "Moki, go get your bag ready."

Moki flew up to the top of his home, entered through the flap to find his backpack, and starting getting his clothes and training tools together. Sakura watched him go and turned back to face her now guests.

"You can sleep out here if you so choose, but it really would behoove both of us if you joined me inside my home for the night." Sakura said with a hand on her hip and the other gesturing toward where Moki entered. "I wont poison you in your sleep...now that we're allies."

Itachi and Kisame once again shared one of their looks and both shrugged, stepped forward, and entered the home of Sakura Haruno; ally.


End file.
